Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From François Berthout

Pte 6646 John Joseph White
5th Australian Infantry Battalion,
2nd Brigade, 1st Australian Division
 
In the silent fields of the Somme, among the roses and the poppies stand solemn and silent, row after row the graves of thousands of brave young boys, a whole generation of heroes, of exceptional men who for their country and for France , served side by side with pride and fought tirelessly for peace and freedom, for the future of humanity and for each one of us in the dark trenches, in the mud and the blood of the battlefields who, through a hell of fire and steel, charged bravely under deluges of bullets and lead that took so many lives taken too soon in the fury and violence of a world at war but which, in the eternal shroud of flowers of remembrance, found the peace of their final resting places, of their immaculate graves on which are inscribed the names and stories of so many of them who did not have the chance to return home but whom I would watch over always with love and respect to keep their memory and their history alive and so that their bravery and sacrifices will never be forgotten.

Today, it is with the deepest respect and infinite gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 6646 John Joseph White who fought in the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Australian Division, and who was killed in action 106 years ago, on February 10, 1917 at the age of 26 on the Somme front.

John Joseph White was born in 1891 in Murtoa, near Warracknabeal, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of Samuel and Norah White, of 49, Davis Street, Newport, Victoria, Australia. He was educated at Murtoa State School, Victoria, then after graduation, served for two and a half years in the Victorian Rangers and before the outbreak of the war, worked as a butcher.

John first enlisted at Keswick,South Australia, on February 22, 1915 under service number 3663 in Infantry Brigade 7, Field Ambulance 7, Section B, and sailed with his unit from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A2 Geelong on May 31, 1915 but returned in Australia in September and he re-enlisted, this time in the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, under service number 6646 and re-embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A71 Nestor on October 2, 1916 and sailed for England.

On November 16, 1916, John arrived in England and was disembarked at Plymouth, Devon, and joined the 2nd Training Battalion for a short period of training and the following month, on December 21, embarked with his battalion from Folkestone, Kent, on board "Princess Clementine" then proceeded overseas for France.
Very quickly, John and the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion arrived in France and were disembarked at Etaples on December 22, 1916 where John joined the 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, proceeded to unit on December 30 and was taken on strength with the 5th Battalion on January 2, 1917 in the Somme ,at Flixecourt where they remained until January 23 and marched into billets in Albert the following day,and reached High Wood West on January 25.
On February 1, 1917, John was sent to the Gas School at Millencourt for a training period which ended on February 6 and marched for the "Fricourt Farm" the next day then joined the Bazentin Camp on February 9.Unfortunately, the following day, on February 10, 1917, during a raid by the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion to capture an enemy position known as the "Bayonet trench" near Flers, John met his fate and was killed in action. This raid was a success but 8 men were killed, 40 were wounded and 3 were missing.

Today, John Joseph White rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Bazentin-Le-Petit Military Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "Have mercy upon him Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him."

John shares his grave with Private number 1775 Jonathan George Lyte, who fought in the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion and who was killed in action near John during the raid on the "Bayonet Trench", he was 20 years old.

John, brave and determined, it was in the prime of your life that, for Australia, you answered the call of duty to join your brothers in arms overseas on the battlefields of northern France and who , side by side and heads high, behind their officers, with their best mates, marched through the poppies of the Somme, pushed forward by drums and bugles and the desire to fight, to do what was right, not only for their country which they made proud through the trenches of Pozieres, Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux where they stood with loyalty and honor but together they fought for a better world and gave their today for our tomorrow, for the peace in which we live and in which we cherish the memory of these young boys, they served with pride without regard for their own lives but to provide a better future for their loved ones, for their comrades and together,through four years of endless war, on the red sands of Gallipoli and in the mud of the Somme, united in camaraderie and brotherhood, they gave their all under hurricanes of fire and steel that shattered the souls and lives of their brothers and friends who had as only youth the hell of a war which pushed very young men to kill each other in bloodbaths and who fell side by side in the barbed wire from which they could not escape the murderous fire of the enemy machine guns which poured on them rains of lead and bullets at a frightening pace and which tirelessly swept the no man's land which became open cemeteries in which fell friends and enemies in the shell holes, in a thick mud that drowned a whole generation of men who gave the best of themselves until their last breath.Behind the parapets, their heads bowed under their slouch hats, they lived shoulder to shoulder in deep, sticky mud in which the blood of their friends ran and saw a few meters from them, behind the sandbags, the world which plunged into the madness through the flames and the fury of the artillery which pulverized each meter of these putrid quagmires which were the daily life of so many men and which, under tons of shells, pulverized all that was the beauty of the once peaceful soils of France which became fields of death on which nothing could live and whose smell of death was unbearable and yet, millions of young boys lived in this cataclysm, in these slaughterhouses, almost on their knees among the rats to not to be the targets of snipers and in these slaughterhouses that were the fields of the Somme which sank into darkness,these heroes found in each other the courage and the strength to fight without ever giving up, they never backed down, they shared the weight of the war which they bravely carried on their shoulders and from this hell was born the spirit of ANZAC , a spirit of courage and perseverance, of gallantry and honor, of sacrifice and bravery in the face of adversity and the trials that all the sons and daughters of Australia showed on the battlefields of the great war, a spirit still present in the Somme where so many Diggers fought and fell and who today rest in peace in the serene and flowery cemeteries of this beautiful Australian-French region, two countries forever united in friendship and remembrance.More than a hundred years ago, when Australian soldiers liberated Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux, young French children wrote on the walls of schools "Do not forget Australia" "long live Australia" and today, more than ever, we will never forget, we will never forget what all these young men did for us, we will always honor their memory with the deepest love and I will always watch over them so that they will never be forgotten and that their bravery, their names live forever.Vive l'australie.Thank you so much John,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.